AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Questions & Answers on the Universal
Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council
Updated June 2008
The Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council under which it
reviews, each four years, the fulfilment by all 192 UN Member States of their
human rights obligations and, commitments. It is a cooperative mechanism, based on objective and
reliable information, and equal treatment of all States. The review process aims to fully
involve the State under review, while at the same time not being overly
burdensome for States. It shall not
duplicate the work of the treaty bodies.
The UPR process comprises:
·
Preparation of
the documentary bases by the State and other stakeholders, including through a consultation
at the national level to prepare the State’s input to the review, and submission
of information by civil society organizations;
·
A three-hour
interactive dialogue in the UPR Working Group between the State under review
and other UN Member States;
·
Adoption by
the UPR Working Group of the report of the outcome of the review;
·
Adoption by
the Council, at the following regular session, of the outcome of the review;
and
·
Follow-up and
implementation by the State concerned and other stakeholders as relevant.
As a new mechanism of the Council, the UPR has yet to
demonstrate that it will be effective in the promotion and protection of human
rights. It is important that
governments and other stakeholders, including NGOs, work constructively with it,
including through the establishment of good precedents.
By being
applicable, on an equal basis, to all UN Member States, the UPR is intended to address
one of the main criticisms levelled at the Council’s predecessor, the
Commission on Human Rights, namely that its focus on individual country
situations was selective and based on double standards (the Commission
considered only a small number of countries at its annual sessions and shied
away from addressing some of the most pressing situations, often for political
reasons). The UPR provides an
opportunity to address in the UN’s principal interstate human rights body
country situations that were never the subject of consideration or action by the
Commission on Human Rights.
No, the Council has
available to it the possibility of country resolutions and other procedures
that were also available in the Commission on Human Rights, including the confidential
Complaints Procedures (which replaced the 1503 Procedure). We have yet to see how the Council will
strike the balance between the UPR and other procedures for addressing country
situations, but it is clear from UN General Assembly resolution 60/251[1]
that the UPR is one among several procedures available to address country
situations.
·
Improvement
of the human rights situation on the ground;
·
Fulfilment of
the State’s human rights obligations and commitments and assessment of
developments and challenges;
·
Enhancement
of the capacity of the State to protect human rights;
·
Sharing of
best practice among States;
·
Cooperation
in the promotion and protection of human rights;
·
Encouragement
of full cooperation with the Council, its mechanisms (e.g., the Special
Procedures and the Complaints Procedure) and other UN human rights bodies (e.g.
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the treaty
bodies, etc.).
·
The UN
Charter;
·
The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights;
·
Human rights
instruments to which the State is a party;
·
Voluntary
pledges and commitments by the State, e.g. pledges made in the context of
elections to the Council and in statements during the Council’s high-level
segment; and
The review will be based on three key documents:[2]
1. Information prepared by the State under
review. For most countries this
information takes the form of a national report (maximum 20 pages). However, it is important to note that
the modalities of the UPR stipulate that the State under review may choose to
present this information only orally.[3] The Council has encouraged States to
prepare their information through a broad consultation process at the national
level with all relevant stakeholders.[4]
2. A compilation, prepared by the OHCHR, of
information contained in reports of the treaty bodies, Special Procedures and
other relevant UN bodies (maximum 10 pages).[5]
The Council has adopted guidelines for the preparation
and content of the national information (report).[6] It should include:
·
Information
on implementation of international human rights obligations, national
legislation and voluntary commitments; as well as national human rights
institutions, public awareness of human rights and cooperation with human
rights mechanisms;
·
Information
on achievements and best practice, as well as challenges and constraints;
·
Key national
priorities and initiatives to overcome challenges and constraints and improve
the human rights situation;
·
Expectations
for capacity-building and requests for technical assistance;
The review of all UN
Member States will take place in the UPR Working Group, composed of the 47 Members
of the Council, and chaired by the President of the Council. Each Member of the Council will decide
on the composition of its delegation to the UPR Working Group, which may include
human rights experts.
Three rapporteurs, a Rapporteur Troika, are selected from among the 47 Members of
the Council, to facilitate each review.
The State under review may request that one of the Rapporteurs be from
its own Regional Group and may also object to a selected Rapporteur; however, it
may do so only once. A Rapporteur may request to be excused
from a particular country review, in which case another Rapporteur will be
selected. There is no set limit to
the number of times a Rapporteur may request to be excused.
Despite the creation of the role of the Rapporteur
Troika, the review is
effectively carried out by those states that take the floor during the interactive
dialogue or submit questions in advance to the state under review. The functions
of the Rapporteur Troika
have so far been limited to:
·
relaying
questions submitted in advance to the state under review;
·
drafting the
report of the interactive dialogue in the Working Group in consultation with
the state under review and with the help of the UPR Secretariat;
What
is the sequence of events in a typical review?
A key element of the
review is the three-hour interactive dialogue between the State under review
and Members of the Council and Observer States. “Other relevant stakeholders”,
such as NGOs, may only “attend” the inter-active dialogue which means that NGOs
will not be able to make statements or ask questions of the country during the dialogue.
The State under review is allocated a total of one hour to present its report, respond
to issues and questions raised by other Member States, and to make any
concluding comments. The remaining two hours are available to Council Members
and Observer States to make comments, ask questions and make recommendations.
Considering speaking times of three minutes for Council members and two minutes
for Observer States, the list of speakers is likely to accommodate between 40-45
States.
The outcome of a
country review is adopted in two stages:
first in the UPR Working Group and then in the Council plenary.
After the
conclusion of the interactive dialogue, the Rapporteur Troika, assisted by the UPR secretariat and in consultation
with the State under review, will compile a report of the review summarising
the presentation by the State under review, issues and questions raised by
reviewing States, responses to these by the State under review, and a list of
recommendations made. The reviewed
State may indicate in the report which recommendations its supports and which
it does not. The outcome report is
presented to the UPR Working Group at least 48 hours after the conclusion of
the interactive dialogue for adoption.
The adopted report
is then forwarded to the Council for consideration and adopted at the next regular
session. There is a standing item
on the UPR on the Council’s agenda, and up to one hour set aside for the adoption
of each outcome report.
The outcome of the
UPR should be implemented by the State reviewed and others, as
appropriate. States that have
already been reviewed may decide to give an update to the Council on efforts to
implement the recommendations made in their review, e.g. under Item 6 on the
UPR. Subsequent reviews will
consider the state of implementation of the recommendations made in previous
reviews.
In cases of
persistent non-cooperation with the UPR mechanism, the Council will “address”
such situations. Fortunately, this
has not yet been the case; rather the level of cooperation by States in the
review process has been good.
All 192 UN Member
States are being reviewed over the four year period, 2008-2011. This means that 48 countries will be
reviewed each year; 16 in each of the three annual sessions of the UPR Working
Group. See the overview
attached.
There are a number
of opportunities for NGOs to contribute to and participate in country reviews
under the UPR. Some of these are
stipulated in the rules governing the UPR; others are advocacy opportunities on
the fringes of the process. Whenever
possible, and especially in the first few years of the UPR, efforts should be
made to create good precedents for future reviews.
National consultation prior to the development of the
national report
Information basis for the review
Interactive dialogue in UPR Working Group
Outcome of the review
Adoption of outcome of review
Implementation of review recommendations and
commitments
·
Encourage
review of implementation of recommendations in subsequent UPR reviews of the country
concerned.
Civil
society groups and organizations may make submissions of information on a
specific country coming up for review. Such submissions will be considered for inclusion in one of
the three official documents which form the basis of the review, i.e. the
summary of “other objective and credible information” prepared by the OHCHR.
NGO
submissions should not exceed five pages unless submitted as part of an NGO
coalition, in which case submissions can be extended to ten pages. More
information on how to make submissions and the deadlines for these can be found
on the webpage of the OHCHR at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/TechnicalGuide.aspx
The UPR is likely to attract national or international media and public
attention for many countries.
Irrespective of what NGOs do in the formal review of such countries, the
public interest generated by the UPR will offer a campaigning platform that
NGOs should consider using.
Information
available on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights:
-
Information
prepared for the UPR process, including state report, compilation of UN
information and summary of stakeholder information: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/search.aspx
-
Schedule of
countries coming up for review under the UPR: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/upr/uprlist.pdf
-
HRC
Resolution 5/1 which includes the modalities for the UPR: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/HRC/resolutions/A_HRC_RES_5_1.doc
-
HRC Decision
6/102 which sets out parameters for information submitted for the UPR:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/HRC/decisions/A_HRC_DEC_6_102.pdf
-
Information
note for NGOs on the UPR:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/upr/noteNGO_041007.htm
-
Information
note for NHRIs in the UPR:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/upr/noteNHRIs_041007.htm
-
Country
profiles: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx
[1] UN General Assembly
Resolution 60/251, adopted 24 February 2006, establishing the Human Rights
Council is available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/upr/noteNHRIs_041007.htm
[2] This information is available on the
website of the OHCHR at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/search.aspx
[3] In the first two
rounds of review only one country, South Africa, did not submit a written
report in advance of its review, but did so only the day before the
consideration by the UPR Working Group.
[4] Human Rights
Council resolution 5/1, Annex, para 15 (a)
[5] Extensive
information about UN information available for individual countries can be
found in the country profiles available on the website of the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx
[6] HRC decision 6/102,
available on http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/HRC/decisions/A_HRC_DEC_6_102.pdf